Thursday, November 15, 2012

Hudson: 10 months

Sheesh.  Where does the time go??  I am constantly behind on my "baby-book" documentation!  :) Oh well, here goes:

This little man is always on the move!  It was crazy to re-read this, from Ellie's 10 month entry, because she wasn't even crawling at this point, and Hudson's been crawling for 4 months already!

Hudson:
*can push a walker and walk holding onto our hands.
*can stand on his own for several seconds.
*has 2 top teeth and 2 bottom teeth that have come in, and one more on both the top and bottom that are on their way.  It's changed his whole look, but that grin is still SO adorable!
*babbles mamama, dadada, bababa
*eats anything we put in front of him, with the exception of beans.  He will eventually eat the beans if I mix them w/ yogurt, but they're definitely not his favorite.  He's getting good at the pincer grasp, though, with lots of practice picking up cheerios!
*still nurses 3 times/day (just weaned the 11 am feeding this week).
*has a morning nap from 9-10 still; an afternoon nap from 1-3; goes to bed at 7, wakes up at 7.  The last 2 months have been awful though, as far as waking up multiple times in the night due to teething, coughing, congestion, etc.
*has had that cough for almost 2 months now!  We finally put him on an antibiotic and after improving for 2 days, he suddenly got much worse.  The dr. then prescribed a stronger dose, which made him break out into a rash.  So, round 3 is now almost complete and he is finally starting to sound better.  We'll be happy to have our sweet baby back... he's been much more of a fussy pants lately, which is not like him.
*was Sandy (from Annie) for his first Halloween.
*weighs about 20 lbs; is in 25 percentile for weight, 75th for height!  In other words, he's a bean-pole... not roly-poly like big sis. :)
*knows to rock back and forth when I put him on my knees, in anticipation of "Trippety-Trop."
*loves his bath, but I constantly have to make him sit back down so he won't fall.
*still puts everything in his mouth.  His favorite toys are still rattle-like toys that he can chew on.  Currie says Hudson's world is mono-categorical: Things That I Can Put In My Mouth.
*is too cute for words! (This last one is actually a 9 mo. picture, but I just can't resist that adorable face!) 

Sunday, September 30, 2012

9th Anniversary Weekend


8 months

*two bottom teeth
*"cruising" around the furniture
*loves to bang on his highchair tray
*must. move.
Sweet Boy.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

The drawbacks of central planning

"One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century."
--"Our One-Party Democracy", by Thomas Friedman. Op-ed, New York Times, September 9, 2008.

Some of the 'drawbacks':


A 2002 comparison of the Aral sea from it's natural size, to it's then-present size


The Aral Sea, 2009--forty years after Moscow-planed water diversion programs began to kill a native fishing industry employing 40k workers (and producing 1/6 of the entire Soviet fish catch) in order to divert the water through inefficient canals to grow cotton on the cheap. Uzbekistan did become one of the world's largest cotton exporters, but its low-efficiency canals and poor planing mean that the industry requires far more water than is necessary to grow cotton under normal conditions--or would be possible in a private system--and the salt-flat lying where the Aral Sea used to be still gets the runoff from the pollutants and pesticides used in this massively inefficient centrally-planned industrial-farming venture (the problem may be complicated by the fact that the bioweapons facility and dump on Vozrozhdeniya island ceased to naturally quarantine its contaminants when the island joined the mainland in 2001).  The resulting climate produces hotter summers, colder winters, toxic dust storms which have caused cancer rates to skyrocket and led to a child mortality rate of 75 per 1,000 newborns and a maternity mortality rate of 12 per 1,000 women.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

The Crawler! (6 months)


King Corn: is the industry the enemy?


I just saw King Corn (2007—I know I’m a little behind the time to be responding to it, but...) The Movie does an excellent job of demonstrating the problem—that government subsidies have turned farming low-quality corn for a net loss into a major corporate business. The difficulty is that they set their sights on “industrial farming” as the enemy, rather than a subsidy system which forces a low-quality crop to become such an economically viable option. The proposed solution—turning the acre they farmed for a year into a vacant field for playing baseball—is impractical and unhelpful.

 The enemy is not industrial farming, but wasteful and pointless industrial farming. We moved from a system in which the government paid farmers to not produce, to a system in which the government pays farmers to produce a useless product.

 That seems a high charge to make against a product which has found its way into so many things (virtually everything). But I say corn is useless because the price system reveals that people are willing to pay less for it than it costs to produce it. Were it not subsidized, it would not be available for such a low price, and it would not find its way into so many applications; the only reason our entire food system is built on it is because subsidies keep its price unnaturally low, and so companies find it economical to find new uses for such a cheap product. Were the price system allowed to work, corn would not be a cheaper option for sweetener than sugar, and we would end up supporting more third world economies where sugar cane can be grown to produce sweetener more efficiently than can corn, and American farmers would find a more valuable and cost-effective crop to grow--like maybe grass which, farmed a la Joel Salatin’s methods, could offset the low quality beef produced at animal feeding operations.

While Joel is opposed to the industrial food system, I’m persuaded by Tyler Cowen’s arguments in An Economist Gets Lunch that the industrial system could be used to produce better food more cheaply for more people, if we got subsidies out of the way of preventing the market from finding more efficient options. Can grass-fed beef be done industrial style? I’m not sure.  My point is that with the current system we don’t have the opportunity to find out. By making the industrial food system the bad guy, we ignore that that system has brought us from a country that deals with starvation problems, to a country that deals with obesity problems. And I would rather deal with those problems than starvation. If we stop subsidizing the system to produce junk, maybe we can fix multiple problems.

Friday, August 03, 2012

Summer Travels 2012

June 18-22: General Assembly in Louisville, KY
June 22: spend the night in GA
June 23-July 2: FL w/ Abby's fam
July 2-4: Roomie reunion in ATL
July 5-9: GA w/ Currie's fam







       The kids did SO much better than I thought they would in the car!  Ellie was a little whiny on the first two legs of the trip, which were only about 5 hours, but once she got the idea that we'd be in the car all day, she did great.  I had come very prepared with books, snacks, and lots of Dollar Tree toys (pom poms, beads, pipe cleaners, dry erase board, play dough, stickers, etc.).  I got her a cookie sheet that she used for snacks and as a surface to draw on.  Hudson had a rough hour before reaching FL, but otherwise was his usual chill self.  When all was said and done, we spent about 44 hours in the car and covered 1,800 miles!




Thursday, June 14, 2012

5 months

My boy is 5 months today!

Here's what he's up to these days:
*weighed 15 lbs, 11 oz. at dr. appt. a couple of weeks ago
*needs paci to fall asleep, but when it falls out he resorts to sucking his thumb (adorable!)
*sleeps 12 hours about 3 out of 5 nights... sometimes he just needs his paci put back in
*started sleeping in Ellie's room about a month ago (naps and nighttime...what a breeze, what was I worried about?!)

*like his sister, he wants to be left alone to sleep; will not be rocked to sleep, but will easily sleep in the Ergo or the carseat
*eats on 3 hr(ish) schedule around 7 am, 10 am, 1 pm, 4 pm, 7 pm
*loves to laugh, especially when he sees his sister
*rolls over the minute I put him on his back
*will stay on his tummy for ages

*does a 360 turn while on his tummy, putting his legs up by his tummy like he wants to crawl (this is so much sooner than Ellie)
*reaches for everything, especially my hair!
*found his feet
*everything goes straight to his mouth
*seems to have big hands and long arms (piano player?)
*figured out how to bounce in the Johnny Jump-up 2 nights ago
*loves peek-a-boo
*likes his bath, figured out how to splash
*has started to vocalize more... the funniest one is when he sounds like Fat Albert, like a low fake laugh

*loves the swing, but has to be strapped in or else he'll try to roll over while he's in it!
*seems to favor his left side; he is always rolling to the left and reaching with his left hand (LOVES the yellow kitty in the swing, doesn't even realize the red doggy is there)
*first time camping last weekend
*first time in a boat

Happy, happy baby!  We are SO blessed!

Friday, May 25, 2012

The Summer Plan (to help me stay sane)

Mondays: groceries in AM, playground in PM
Tuesdays: outings (zoo, mall, Chick-Fil-A, science center, etc.)
Wednesdays: water fun (Tot Time @ pool, City Garden fountains, Botanical Gardens fountains)
Thursdays: story time @ library or History Museum
Fridays: arts/crafts AM, cooking/baking PM
**Most importantly, play dates!!  We will happily ditch the "schedule" to play with friends...or, we'll just invite the friends to join us.  :) 

Thursday, April 26, 2012

3 month comparison


Hudson: 3 months

Last night Hudson slept for almost 13 hours straight!!! This kinda came out of nowhere. He had been sleeping 10 hours, around 10 weeks, but over the last few weeks, he seemed to regress a bit (growth spurt?) and was waking up more often to eat. I’ve been trying to gradually reduce the amount of time I let him nurse during the night, but the previous night he’d woken up twice. I’m anxious to see how tonight goes! He’s quickly outgrowing his little cradle. [Update: he woke up twice…boo.]



Hudson has the cutest little frown/pout that he gets right before he starts crying.

He’s been blowing raspberries lately, and sometimes looks like he’s foaming at the mouth!

We’re back to using cloth diapers about 95% of the time (except for outings and overnight); he’s wearing 3-6 month clothing; size 2 disposable diapers.

Hudson is not great at taking a bottle. He did fine when we introduced it at 4 weeks, but I guess we went several weeks without needing to give him one, so when we did, he didn’t do so well. Last time I went to work, Currie said he just screamed…poor guy(s). This week I’m on a mission to get him comfortable with it again, so I’m alternating each feeding by nursing and bottle.

Generally, he is one happy boy. All I have to do it look at him, and he’ll break into a grin that lights up his whole face. He’s easy to get to laugh too…especially by bouncing him or pretending to eat his little neck. 


At home, Hudson sleeps swaddled, with his paci. At school, though, he just falls asleep in the bouncer, and the nursery worker said he hardly ever fusses. The comment I hear most often is "He's so chill!"



My favorite thing right now about Hudson and Ellie is their interaction. Hudson loves looking at Ellie and smiles at her often. She just talks to him like he knows exactly what she’s saying! “Like my dress, Huh-son?” When he does get too tired to look at her, she says, “Look at Ellie, Huh-son! A-look at Ellie!!” 



I took Hudson on a women’s retreat two weekends ago, and when I got there found out that all 7 women from our church were in the same room! (I’m not sure I would have brought Hudson along if I’d known that…) He did great, though, and only woke up once to eat, but I got to him pretty quickly. The ladies kept commenting what a great baby he is.

He loves to play with his hands, and often looks like he’s praying. He also loves to suck on his hands/thumb/arm. Last week I thought he had a bruise and then realized he’d given himself a hickey from sucking so intensely on his arm!

Friday, April 06, 2012

Talking with Daddy

Hudson will be 12 weeks old tomorrow!





Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Hudson's Birth Story

It’s hard to really know when my labor with Hudson started. I began having contractions probably a month or more before my due date, January 10th. My first ones really freaked me out, since I hadn’t had any contractions with Ellie until the day she was born, and it was waaay too soon to be in labor. But, I soon figured out that with the second child, it’s quite common to have contractions much sooner that don’t amount to anything. So, I learned to just ignore the contractions (they didn’t hurt anyway), or just sit down if I realized I was having a lot on a particular day.

As the due date got closer, we really began praying that Hudson would be early, and we pretty much assumed that would be the case, since Ellie came 5 days early as well. Currie’s parents came to town after Christmas and would stay until January 2nd. I was scheduled to go back to work on January 3rd, but was really hoping that I wouldn’t have to return to either job, since my subs were all lined up and ready to go. We were also thinking that it would be much easier on Ellie to have family in town to watch her while we were at the hospital—she was actually my biggest concern about labor this time. I wanted her to be able to be at home, with people who knew her routine, and people she felt comfortable with (who better than family?). The whole time his family was here we kept doing things to induce labor: went to Macaroni Grill for eggplant parmesan, ate fresh pineapple, walked, etc. I was pretty bummed when they left and still no baby!

On Wednesday, January 11th, I was having contractions pretty regularly, but they weren’t hurting, so I decided to go to my evening tutoring job. I continued to have contractions the whole time I was there, and was getting excited about coming home to time them. Currie and I had begun watching Downton Abbey that week, so the whole time we watched that evening I timed contractions: 5-7 minutes apart. We went ahead and called several friends that had said they’d be willing to be on call for Ellie in case we needed to go to the hospital in the middle of the night. That night we also knew there was supposed to be a snow/ice storm, so I was pretty nervous about having to ask someone to brave their way through that at 2 am (especially friends who had a newborn themselves)!

I had gone ahead and let my bosses know that I wasn’t going to come in to work that day as well, since we were fairly certain I’d be in labor. So, I was pretty surprised to wake up Thursday morning only to have the contractions slow down substantially. Still, I was pretty sure that he would be born that day or night, so I asked Mom to go ahead and come to be able to help with Ellie. She was able to get a ticket and arrived Thursday evening. My contractions had picked up in the evening and so again, we timed that they were 5-7 minutes apart. And, again, I woke up with contractions slowed substantially.

Friday we spent the day at home, which was great, since Mom was able to get a feel for Ellie’s schedule. She hadn’t been to our house since Ellie was born, and even though Ellie had seen Mom, I wasn’t sure how well she would behave or go to bed for her. Towards dinner time my contractions picked up in speed and intensity, but I still hadn’t had any other signs of labor progressing. So, we decided to go out for Dewey’s pizza and on the way home we stopped at Cyrano’s and bought a bread pudding to go. We watched Downton Abbey and again timed contractions. They continued to speed up, last longer, and I was starting to have to concentrate on my breathing.

At 3 a.m. I was just getting ready to wake Currie up and tell him that the contractions were getting really intense and that they were three minutes apart. As I said his name, though, my water broke! I felt a gush and he got me a towel, and helped me to the bathroom. I stayed there for a few minutes as we decided what to do, but all of the sudden I started shaking pretty violently. I could not calm down to get myself to stop the shaking, so we ended up asking our doula, Colleen, to meet us at the hospital (we had already been in touch with her throughout the previous days). I was kind of freaking out and really did not like the feeling of the water breaking as it continued to get my pants wet. Mom came up from the basement ‘cause she heard the commotion and we told her what was going on. She was all set to stay with Ellie—as it turned out, the timing could not have been better and Ellie was an absolute angel for Mom.

We arrived at the hospital at 4 a.m. and by the time we registered and got to a room, Colleen had arrived. I got checked and was somewhat discouraged to find out that I was only 4 cm dilated. I tried not to focus on it at all, though, and just concentrated on getting through each contraction. For most of the contractions I’d sit on the birth ball while leaning into Currie, who was sitting on the bed. This worked well for some time, but eventually Colleen wanted me to try something different to see if it would speed things along. I agreed to try the shower, but only lasted in there for about one contraction. I didn’t like the feeling of only being halfway in the water, because I was cold everywhere else.

I went back to the birth ball and tried leaning onto the bed. Currie & Colleen got me some warm blankets and draped them over my back to warm me up. Pretty soon I started getting hot, and I started alternately wanting the blanket and not wanting the blanket. I would ask Currie to rub my back and then quickly change my mind and snap “Stop! Don’t touch me.” As soon as the contraction would end I’d apologize and explain that I just really didn’t know what I wanted. I remember saying, “I forgot how much this hurts!” and “I feel like I’m losing it.” I was pretty sure I was in transition, and soon started feeling the urge to push.

I was nervous and frustrated, because once again (this happened with Ellie), it was too early to push. I got up on the bed and turned on my side while Colleen rubbed my back, which helped me be able to breathe and relax some to control the urge to push. I kept groaning and sometimes wasn’t able to make it through the contraction without pushing. I really felt like I was doing a poor job (again) since I wasn’t able to make it through some of the contractions without pushing.

I’m not quite sure how things happened next, because it’s a bit of a blur. I remember being checked again and hearing that I was 7 cm dilated. The nurse and Colleen were monitoring Hudson’s heartbeat and it was dropping, but I don’t think I knew that yet. They put an oxygen mask on my face and had me turn onto my hands and knees. Then, they told me I needed an IV (part of my birth plan was not to have a heplock, since I have a severe phobia of needles). I think I was pretty calm through all of that, though, but I remember looking down and seeing blood running down my arm (Currie said the nurse must have been nervous or just rushed). I guess both of those things helped Hudson’s heart rate go up for a little while, but then it started dropping again. I just remember feeling absolutely exhausted and somewhat confused as to why all of this was necessary.

The next thing I remember is turning over again and suddenly being surrounded by nurses in blue scrubs. They had checked me again and even though I was 7 cm, I guess my cervix melted away and they started telling me “Abby, the baby needs to come out NOW!” I think they started giving me directions, and I remember saying “I don’t know who to listen to!” One of the women said, “Abby, I’m Dr. (Margaret) McCarthy. I need you to listen to me.” I had thought she was just another nurse… I hadn’t realized that she was the doctor on call, and that my doctor hadn’t been able to make it in time. She showed me a suction device and explained that she was going to need to use it because the baby was in distress. Then, a nurse climbed up on the table and started pushing from the top of my stomach as well. This was excruciating, and left me sore for weeks.

I remember pushing with all my might and everyone encouraging me to keep pushing. I felt like it was completely ineffective, though. Colleen later assured me that I was the one who pushed Hudson out, but I somehow still have a nagging feeling that she was only saying that to comfort me, since I needed the help of the suction and the nurse pushing on my stomach. Hudson was born at 6:48 am, after what I think was only about 10-15 minutes of pushing. He was limp and grayish, and the nurses immediately took him over to be put on oxygen since he wasn’t breathing. Currie accompanied Hudson, and I remember feeling scared, but somehow thinking things would be OK (Currie saw how concerned everyone was, though, and realized later he had tried to detach himself to prepare himself to comfort me since things didn’t look good). After 3 minutes, Hudson started breathing on his own and crying, and I remember a nurse saying “Isn’t that the most wonderful sound in the world?”

They let me hold Hudson, but only for a few minutes, and not to nurse yet, since they wanted to monitor him in the NICU. While I was holding him, my doctor (Dr. Mormol) came and stitched me up. Colleen then stayed with me, and Currie went with Hudson. Colleen and I talked about what had happened, and that the cord had been wrapped around his neck and his shoulder. He also hadn’t made the final rotation so his shoulder was stuck, as Ellie’s had been. Also, Dr. McCarthy came by after about 15 minutes and brought me two pictures she had personally taken, and printed out right in the hospital, of Hudson and Currie in the NICU. This meant the world to me!

After about an hour I was moved to a post-partum room (by myself), and Currie met me there soon after. Then, about an hour later Hudson was able to join us. Of course, I was very worried about him, but the nurses assured us that they are very protective of their newborns, and the fact that he was in the room with us was a very good sign. Finally, I was able to nurse him, and he had no trouble at all. The pediatrician told us that when newborns are in distress, rather than the “fight” response, they tend to shutdown. This actually helps them not to ingest meconium, etc. So, he too assured us that Hudson was doing very well.

Overall, Hudson’s birth was much more difficult than Ellie’s, which was a bit of a surprise, since I’d heard that the second tends to be a bit easier. I remember telling Currie the night that Ellie was born that I could do it again; this time, not so sure (at least not anytime soon!). I also remember telling Currie when Ellie was born that it was not the most pain I’d ever been in; again, not so with little Hudson. I felt a bit shell-shocked and traumatized with all that happened right there at the end, and with little explanation of why. Still, I’m quite thankful that I was able to get through it with very little intervention, and that a c-section was not necessary (I do wonder if I was just minutes/seconds away from one). I think the fact that I had been in early labor for about 3 days meant that when my water broke things just happened super fast and the contractions were super intense. (My water broke at 3 am and Hudson was born at 6:48 am). Still, the experience made me all the more grateful for our little boy, and for his health. I told Hudson the day he was born that he was not allowed to scare us like that ever again! I guess he’s been making up for it ever since, because he’s now 11 weeks old, and he is seriously such a sweet, easy, delightful baby boy!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Big Girl Bed

Last night was Ellie's first night in her Big Girl Bed!


This project was never-ending!! Seriously, it made me a bit depressed at how much was involved: painting the bed frame, buying a mattress, a box spring (which needs to be returned since it made the bed way too high), new sheets, a new quilt, a dust ruffle, shams, and a mattress cover, in case of accidents. (Fortunately, we have very generous family members who took care of most of the expenses!) We've been talking to her about the new bed for probably over a month, but it's taken that long to accumulate everything, and for Currie to find time to paint the bed, which he inherited from his grandparents. So, I am VERY thankful that the ordeal is over.

I not only love how the bed turned out, but I love how easily Ellie has adjusted to it. I was worried that she would keep getting out of bed, but she hasn't once! Last night she cried when we left the room (she goes through phases of doing this/not doing this), but it only lasted about 2 minutes. I teared up too. I think it was partly because I thought she might be nervous/scared of the change, but mostly because it seems like this is the last big transition from being a baby.

Anyway, it was pretty fun to be able to lay down next to her and sing and pray before bed. She definitely needs her own space to sleep, so it's not often that you get snuggles in bed (she wakes up raring to go)! Sweet memories:
So, "Ellie's room" is becoming "the kids' room". Hudson still has one night feeding that we need to wean him of before we move him in there, and I wanted Ellie to have some time in her bed before moving him in. I need to rehang all of the wall decor (don't worry, his side will have some blue in it), but otherwise we're almost done!


Thursday, March 22, 2012

My Little Huddy Buddy - 10 weeks

*This boy's smiles and coos just melt my heart. They light up his whole face! His eyes, especially, as so expressive. As my brother put it, it seems like he is looking into your soul. :) His first smile was on the day of his baptism, Feb. 19th.

*He's not really on a schedule yet. Generally he likes to eat about every 3 hours, but it seems like that's starting to stretch to 3.5/4 hours sometimes if he's asleep.

*I was super nervous about changing a boy's diaper because I'd heard so many horror stories of being sprayed in the face, curtains, etc. But, I think there were only 2 times that it happened, in the first few weeks. Once he got the wall and once our bed (quilt, blanket, sheets, and mattress cover!) Now, I'm happy to report that this little dude never pees on me!

*I'm not sure how he feels about the paci. He's definitely not addicted. Sometimes, if he's overtired/overstimulated it helps him fall asleep, but most of the time he just falls asleep on his own. We have to hold the paci in his mouth for quite a while before he'll actually hold onto it, and sometimes it seems counter productive because then he'll cry when he drops it.














*He slept 6 hours at 6 weeks; 7 hours at 7 weeks; and 8 hours at 8 weeks. Now he really only wakes up once to eat in the middle of the night. We've been putting him down around 7 pm, so I don't hear from him until around 3 am. Then, he's ready to eat again sometime between 6-7 am.

*He LOVES his car seat. We tend to run errands and get out most mornings, and that's when he takes his best naps.

*The first few weeks I actually had to remind myself that he needed to eat or get his diaper changed. He just doesn't fuss much. Really the only time he gets upset and cries is when he's overtired at night, and that's only started happening in the last week or two.

I cannot get over how easy this child is! Praise the Lord!



Monday, March 12, 2012

26 months

More snapshots of what this girl is up to lately:

*She's been asking "Huh? What?" after everything we say. We've grown tired of repeating ourselves, and realized that it's not that she doesn't hear us. Once we started asking her "What did I say?" she's able to repeat back verbatim what she's heard. Perhaps this is her way to process new vocabulary or concepts? (Any suggestions on how to break this habit are welcome!)

*Her sentences are becoming much more complex. Instead of saying "Ellie hand dirty," she now says, "My hands are dirty, Mommy." She's using 7-8 word sentences and pretty much blows me away every day with her conversations.

*She loves to sings her ABC's and can pretty much sing them on her own. She can identify an "E" for Ellie.

*She can count to 13 (often skipping 8) and her new way of asking for more is to say "four, five, six, seven?"

*In the car she's been asking "Where did --------- go (Trader Joe's, Daddy, church, motorcycle, etc.)? "

*This girl still LOVES to eat. She asks for snacks constantly! Some of her recent favorites are almonds & cranberries, peanuts, grapes, strawberries, and "moo-vees" (smoothies). Plain, European-style yogurt is still her all-time favorite thing to eat. She eats her dinners pretty well, but we do sometimes have to bribe her bite-by-bite with something like bread or grapes.

*She's discovered running, jumping, and is getting more and more confident doing up/down steps independently.

*She likes to use a pen and draw on the back of junk mail envelopes that we use as scrap paper. She says, "I color."

*Ellie is *mostly* potty-trained!!! She rarely has an accident for #1, and accidents for #2 are becoming less and less frequent. Last week I dropped the diaper during naps and her overnight diapers are dry about 1/4 of the time. While I still ask her if she has to go, she's starting to tell us much more often now, and when she says she doesn't have to go, she really doesn't. Yeah!!!

*Current favorite night-time song is "Come Thou Fount". She calls it "water fountain". It's so sweet to listen to her try to whisper-sing along in my ear while I'm holding her during our little bedtime routine. She knows many of the words now. I also discovered that she knows the words to "Jesus Loves Me". I heard her singing it during a time-out yesterday (hee hee)!

*She is such a sweet big sister to Hudson. Sometimes, as expected, she gets a little carried away and is too rough with him (he's already got a scar from her scratching him), but she has definitely included him in the family, often asking as soon as she wakes up, "Where's Hudson?"

Is she cute, or what?! I love this kid!!

Friday, January 20, 2012